§ LORD TWEEDMOUTHPerhaps the noble Lord the Under Secretary of State for War can now give me the result of his inquiries with regard to the despatch of tents and ambulance wagons to South Africa.
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (LORD RAGLAN)My Lords, the Hospitals Commission, as your Lord ships will remember, mentioned favourably only the tortoise tents, tents of the Indian pattern, and ordinary Ordnance Store pattern; 429 of these latter have been sent to South Africa, of which 153 have been despatched since 1st December last; 1,210 Indian pattern tents have been already sent, and 1,000 more have been ordered from India. No tortoise tents have been sent out lately. I think I explained in my speech that this pattern has not realised the expectations at first formed in regard to it. As to wagons, eighty-five of a new pattern were sent out early last year, and thirty wagons which are considered superior to the Ordnance Store pattern have been built by the Ordnance Store Department at Pietermaritzburg, but no new pattern wagons have been sent out from here since the issue of the Report.